Nursing Homes in Colorado: Cost & Medicaid (2026)

A nursing home in Colorado runs about $121,910 a year for a shared room, above the national median.1 For a long-term stay, the program to know is Health First Colorado, the state's Medicaid program, which pays for nursing-facility care for those who meet the level-of-care and financial rules.2

This guide walks through what a nursing home is, how to check a facility's quality before you choose one, what it actually costs in Colorado, and how Health First Colorado pays for long-term nursing-facility care.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What a Nursing Home Is
• How to Check a Facility's Quality
• What a Nursing Home Costs in Colorado
• Does Health First Colorado Pay for Nursing Homes?
• Frequently Asked Questions

What a Nursing Home Is

CDPHE defines a nursing care facility as a licensed health care entity that provides supportive, restorative, and preventative services to people who, because of physical or mental disability, need continuous or regular inpatient nursing care. One that is federally certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is a skilled nursing care facility.3 That ongoing inpatient nursing is the line that separates it from assisted living. CDPHE licenses an assisted living residence to provide room and board, personal services, protective oversight and round-the-clock supervision, but not to the extent that regular 24-hour medical or nursing care is required.5 When someone needs that level of nursing, a nursing home is the setting built for it.

People arrive at a nursing home along two different paths, and it's worth keeping them straight because they're paid for differently. The first is short-term rehabilitation, often after a hospital stay for a stroke, a fall, or surgery, where the goal is to recover and go home. Medicare helps with that short rehab stay under specific conditions, covering up to 100 days per benefit period, generally after a qualifying inpatient hospital stay of at least three consecutive days. Days 1 through 20 cost $0 a day once the $1,736 Part A deductible is paid (usually already paid for the hospital stay in the same benefit period), days 21 through 100 carry a $217 daily coinsurance in 2026, and after day 100 Medicare pays nothing.4 The second path is long-term custodial care, where someone needs ongoing nursing and supervision they can't safely get at home. Medicare does not pay for that long-term custodial stay.4 That's the care families worry about affording, and it's where Medicaid comes in.

How to Check a Facility's Quality

Quality differs from one nursing home to the next, and you have several public tools for vetting a place before you commit. Use more than one. Each shows you something the others don't.

Start with state oversight. Colorado nursing homes are licensed by CDPHE's Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Division under the state's nursing care facility rules (6 CCR 1011-1, Chapters 2 and 5). CDPHE's online Find and Compare Facilities tool publishes the results of any inspection from the previous three years, including the citations found, the regulation each one cited, and the plan of correction the provider submitted.3 When you tour a facility, ask to see its most recent survey results and look for a pattern of repeat deficiencies rather than reacting to a single old citation.

Next, check the federal star rating on Medicare Care Compare. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services gives nursing homes an overall rating between 1 and 5 stars that combines three sources: health inspections, staffing, and quality measures, each with its own star rating alongside the overall one.3 Look at the staffing rating on its own, not just the overall score.

Finally, know who to call for help. Every state, Colorado included, has an Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, the federally mandated advocate for nursing-home residents, which investigates and resolves complaints made by or on behalf of residents; its services are free and confidential.6 To reach Colorado's program, the federal Administration for Community Living points to the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care's online state directory, and ombudsman programs can tell you how to find a facility and what to do to get quality care.6

What a Nursing Home Costs in Colorado

Nursing-home care is expensive everywhere, and Colorado's rates run above the national median. According to the CareScout Cost of Care Survey, the 2025 statewide medians were about $121,910 a year (roughly $10,159 a month) for a semi-private room and about $146,183 a year (roughly $12,182 a month) for a private room.1 Both run above the national semi-private median of about $114,975.7 These are medians from an industry survey, not government rates and not maximums, and the Denver metro and mountain-resort areas tend to cost more than rural counties. The figure at any one facility can land higher or lower depending on location, room type, and level of care.

To put that in context, the same 2025 survey put Colorado assisted living at a median of about $79,005 a year, roughly $6,584 a month, in its data tables, though CareScout's own March 2026 Colorado press release gives $78,303 for the same line.1 A semi-private nursing-home room costs more than half again as much. The gap is the reason families look hard at whether assisted living or in-home care can meet the need before moving to a nursing home, and at these prices it's why Health First Colorado's nursing-facility coverage matters so much for a long stay.

Does Health First Colorado Pay for Nursing Homes?

Yes, and this is the single most important thing to understand about paying for a Colorado nursing home. Health First Colorado is the state's Medicaid program, administered by the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF).2 It covers nursing-facility care when the person meets a nursing-facility level of care and the financial rules. Home and community-based waivers are a different matter: HCPF states that waivers have extra program rules and some programs may have waitlists, so qualifying financially may not by itself secure a waiver slot.2

Qualifying turns on two findings that run on separate tracks. Here's how the pieces fit together.

Level of care. HCPF requires that you need long-term support services at a level comparable to the services a nursing facility typically provides.2 This is the functional side of eligibility, separate from the money side below.

The financial test. HCPF states it as income less than three times the current federal SSI limit per month, countable resources under $2,000 for a single person, and countable resources under $3,000 for a couple. Because SSA sets the 2026 monthly maximum federal SSI amount at $994 for an eligible individual, that income test works out to under $2,982 a month in 2026. The 300 percent figure behind it comes from federal law: the special income level option lets a state cover people who have been in an institution for at least 30 consecutive days and whose income falls under a standard capped at 300 percent of the SSI federal benefit rate, and that group is optional for states, not required.2 Colorado is an income-cap state, but being over the cap doesn't always shut you out: an applicant whose gross income exceeds $2,982 a month but is below the average private-pay nursing-facility rate for their region of Colorado must set up an irrevocable income trust (Colorado's term for a Qualified Income Trust, also called a Miller Trust) and deposit the excess into it each month. HCPF is a lifetime beneficiary of the trust alongside the member, and when the trust ends the trustee must pay HCPF what remains, up to the total Medicaid paid on the member's behalf.8 A nursing-facility resident on Health First Colorado who is not a veteran or a veteran's widow(er) keeps a personal needs allowance of $110.36 a month in 2026; a veteran with no spouse or dependent child who receives a VA non-service-connected disability pension, or a veteran's widow(er) with no dependent children, keeps $90 a month instead.8 The $3,000 couple figure is not the test when one spouse is in a nursing home and the other stays in the community. That couple is protected by spousal-impoverishment rules instead: Colorado lets the community spouse keep the couple's total resources up to a 2026 maximum of $162,660, not half of them, plus a monthly income allowance.8 Because the financial rules depend on your household and can change, confirm the current figures with HCPF before you apply.

How to apply. HCPF says to apply for Health First Colorado online through Colorado PEAK, or to fill out a paper application and mail it in or drop it off at your county's local office or a local application assistance site. For questions, HCPF's Member Contact Center is 1-800-221-3943 (State Relay: 711).8 Ask the nursing facility whether its social worker can help you start the paperwork. The level-of-care test is separate from the financial one, so it helps to begin both as soon as a long-term stay looks likely rather than waiting for Medicare's short-term coverage to run out.4

Care outside a nursing home. Colorado also pays for long-term care in other settings through Home and Community-Based Services waivers, principally the HCBS waiver for the Elderly, Blind, and Disabled (HCBS-EBD). HCPF describes that waiver as serving people ages 65 and older who have a functional impairment or are blind, and people ages 18 to 64 who are physically disabled or have a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS, who need long-term supports and services to remain in a community setting.2 HCPF states that waivers have extra program rules and some programs may have waitlists, so the home-based option may not be available the moment you need it.2

Look-back and estate recovery. A 60-month look-back applies to assets disposed of for less than fair market value on or after February 8, 2006, so gifts or below-market transfers in that window can trigger a penalty period, a span during which Medicaid will not pay for nursing-facility care.9 After death, federal law requires Colorado to seek recovery from the estate of someone who was 55 or older when they received medical assistance, but only for nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services, unless the state elects to recover for a broader set of items or services. Recovery can happen only after the death of a surviving spouse, if any, and only when there is no surviving child under 21 or blind or permanently and totally disabled, and the state must have procedures to waive recovery that would cause undue hardship.2

Learn More

Find personalized help comparing nursing homes in Colorado at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.